Unpaid Overtime
by AmbulanceRobots
Summary: Because sometimes work follows you home. Or to the party, or the lake, or the movies, or whatever. When your coworkers are your friends, it all blurs together anyways. This is a loosely-assembled collection of whatever my brain farts out on a given basis. I both apologize, and apologize for nothing. Updated sporadically. Not necessarily in chronological order.
1. Chapter 1 - Knitting

**A/N: "But AmRo, why are you jumping headfirst into a new fandom when you have so many other unfinished fanfics to work on? Some of which you haven't touched in a year?"**

 **Because my friend has introduced me to this show, I watched it all in two days, and this is what my soul needs right now.**

* * *

Of the many gifts that Enid had received from Rad over the years – many as jokes and some not – this had to be one of the strangest.

Well, the gift _itself_ was not weird; a thick, plush, well-made purple turtleneck sweater, dotted surprisingly tastefully with shuriken and _snowflakes made of kunai_ , and perfectly her size. This thing could have been knitted directly onto her body and it wouldn't have fit any better. K.O. got one too, blue and white with the professional symbols of his current ten favorite heroes of the month. The kid was currently squealing and rolling in it, while trying to contort himself around to see every one (never mind that he had gone over each when he had seen them, happily stumbling over his words as his brain moved faster than his mouth could keep up; it was adorable). Quite frankly, these sweaters were _glorious._

What was strange was how Rad said he came to _obtain_ the sweaters. Enid would have believed that he knit them himself. Laughed long and hard at the mental image, but she would have believed it, one hundred percent. Of course, she would never get an admission like that from Rad; he was as free-flowing with his feelings as a toilet stuffed with socks. As such, instead of what Enid believed to be the hilarious but honest truth, they got this tripe.

Namely, that the sweaters were knit by his grandmother.

That lived on another planet.

And had never met them before.

And never mind not knowing what a damned kunai was, most _certainly_ couldn't reproduce insignias from Earth heroes from memory.

Because in this lie-hole Rad had committed himself to digging, it wasn't like he had asked her to make them for his friends (because that sounded sensitive enough to bruise his macho ego that had all the defenses of a ripe peach), but because she had made them for _him_ , and he just decided to give them to his friends.

If K.O. hadn't been immediately adjacent to her, Enid would have flipped Rad the finger.

K.O., pure, precious cinnamon roll that he was, believed it hook, line, and sinker. While Enid did occasionally feel the slightest bit of guilt for routinely putting cracks in the sibling-like hero-worship the kid felt for Rad, she felt it was her duty as someone with a good grasp of common sense to not allow her youngest friend to be led astray. K.O. was a smart kid, and would eventually start asking questions on his own, but she felt it would be better for everybody if she hurried it along.

For her own sanity is nothing else.

Also, big as Rad was, it was totes fun to make him squirm.

"So, not that I don't appreciate the gift and all—really, it is so comfortable I may sleep in it tonight—about this 'grandmother' that knit these…"

Rad hooked his thumbs through the belt loops in his pants, leaning heavily against the end of her counter. If he had any inkling of where she was going with this, he didn't show it. Granted, it took more effort than that to unseat him from a story he was attached to.

"Yeah, she's pretty amazing. Almost as amazing as I am. And since she spoiled me with so many sweaters, I decided to be a great friend, and give them to you guys. They seemed to fit you both better anyways."

Except that Enid had seen that cat-faced crop top sweater he was wearing before, months prior to today.

K.O. was seated on the floor, still happily rubbing his face into the collar of his sweater. It was precious.

"You're not kidding. It's so comfortable! Like it was made for me!" He popped up off the floor to throw his arms around Rad's waist. "When you call her, or write, or… whatever you do to get messages between planets, please tell her thank you for me!"

"Isn't that _so convenient_ that you just happened to be gifted sweaters that fit K.O. and I so well, _Rad._ " Oh yeah, he knew what was up, given how he scowled at her. She shot him a sharp, cheeky grin, and continued on regardless. "Never mind that apparently aliens knit with some kind of _wool_ polymer and not whatever microweave space textile is all over the inside of your house."

"Well, you heard him, Enid. He just felt these were better fitted to us. Gotta say, I love mine!"

She snorted, crossing her arms and leaning over the counter, canting her head in Rad's general direction.

"Me too, kiddo, but really? I want you to take a good look at that sweater, and then take a good look at Rad, and tell me what part of _him_ that sweater was _possibly_ made to fit." And she shot aforementioned alien a glare in response to the smarmy grin sliding slowly across his face. "Rad, I want you to swallow that horribly inappropriate mistake I can see forming in your mouth."

"Hey now, I wasn't actually going to say it. K.O. is right here." He held up his hands in some halfhearted effort to placate her. It meant nothing next to that smirk that simply continued to grow. "But you know I was thinkin' it." And Enid was sure that if she had been anybody else, he would have followed that up with a click of his tongue and a pair of finger guns.

K.O. regarded his sweater closely, fingers fondly tracing each symbol on the front. He looked several times from Rad to the garment, as if trying to visualize his larger friend wearing it.

"Hm, you're right." He plopped himself back on the floor, as if getting off his feet helped him think. He leaned back, cocked his head, and regarded her. "But then, why would Rad's grandmother make him sweaters that don't fit him?"

"Why do you think, K.O.?" And she put about as much sarcasm into those words as she was able. K.O. had learned more about Rad during the course of one day than Rad let most people know about him after years. Surely he was connecting the dots by now. Highly likely, given how Rad was growling unhappily somewhere off her shoulder.

K.O., however, was too good for this world, and never thought his friends would deliberately deceive him. Too good, and not yet worldly enough. Instead, he rocketed back to his feet, bouncing on his toes excitedly.

"Because he told his grandmother aaaaaaall about us, and begged her to make us some sweaters, too!"

If that wasn't adorable enough, watching Rad choke hard on his snarl certainly was. If Rad could bathe in attention then he would, but the bright, unsullied admiration that K.O. had for the two of them shocked even him on a regular basis. Rad snorted and crossed his arms over his chest, turning his head to hide his flush. He was committed to his lie, but even he wasn't coarse enough to completely rain on K.O's parade.

"Yeah sure, if that's what you wanna think…" And while he didn't budge when K.O. threw his arms around his waist again for another hug, he also didn't do anything to discourage it. Which was as good as an invitation for K.O.

"Aw, thank you Rad! You're such a good friend, even when you try to be tough about it."

He flushed harder, and Enid could only grin as she watched him pout around his tusks.

"I don't 'try' to be tough about anything."

"And he _certainly_ doesn't pretend to be tough about the bags of unused yarn in the back of his van." She snickered when Rad glared at her, lip curling.

K.O. tugged at the car keys on his belt loop to get his attention.

"Why do you have yarn in your van, Rad?"

"I _don't_."

"Are you doing a project with it?"

" _No,_ because I _don't have any yarn_."

Enid leaned over the countertop to give the kid the loudest stage whisper she could muster.

"It's there, K.O. I saw it this morning." Rad reached over to give her a shove to her shoulder, which just set her to laughing.

K.O. was back to bouncing on the balls of his feet, glancing excitedly between the two of them.

"Can I go check?"

Rad grunted, putting a protective hand over his keys.

"Of course not. Van is locked, little man."

"I'll just peek through the windows!" And he darted out of the store. For such a little guy with short legs and bare feet, he moved remarkably swiftly when motivated.

Rad leaned off the counter just enough to yell after him as he left.

"Well whatever! It's not my yarn, okay? Clearly, somebody misplaced theirs…"

"Hey K.O.! When you get back, be sure to ask Rad how someone else's yarn got into the back of his locked van!"

And the little cinnamon roll turned to smile at her, waving as he went.

"I will!"

And he was off.

The instant the doors to the bodega closed, Enid gave Rad a solid punch to the shoulder, laughing.

"Your _grandmother?_ How deep in your ass did you have to reach for that one?"

Rad tightened his arms over his chest, and decidedly did not look at her.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Enid gave him another friendly backhand to the shoulder. If he weren't such a big brute who fought robots with her on a regular basis and had suffered far worse injuries that some wrassling from a friend, she'd be slightly worried that she was gonna put some bruises on him.

"The _hell_ you don't. You only go back to visit your fam in space every couple years, and it's been at least that long since your last trip. So I'm calling bull on your crap. We both know where those sweaters really came from." She nuzzled into the collar of her turtleneck. "Good job, by the way. This took skill."

Rad threw his hands up in exasperation before letting them fall back to his sides with a loud groan.

"Ugh, just 'cause you don't believe me—"

"You can come off it now, Rad, K.O. is nowhere within earshot. Besides, I really don't think it would lessen his opinion of you in the slightest. Unfortunately."

He growled, crossed his arms back over his chest, and turned on his heel to "flee" to his stockroom for solace. Big softie. His pride wouldn't let him leave without a parting remark of _some_ kind. Even if it was weak.

"Whatever." And with that, the wild Radicles attempted to make a hissing retreat to his lair.

Oh, no no. Like she was gonna let him escape from this. She managed to reach over the counter and grab his elbow in both hands. She got a vicious sounding snarl in response, but he stopped walking instead of trying to drag her from the counter. She gave an insistent tug, and he let her guide him back towards the register. She gave him a gentle pat to the arm for good behavior, which got her nothing but an angry grunt.

"Don't be so salty. Look." K.O. was standing out into the middle of the parking lot, grinning and waving his arms while Brandon and RMS amused him by at least pretending to listen closely. Every so often, K.O. would hold the hem of his sweater out to show it off, which made very clear what he was speaking excitedly about. Enid felt Rad relax a touch under her hands. "He hasn't even made it to the van yet, and he left here at a full clip. He just has to stop and talk to everyone he sees about his awesome new sweater his best friend gave him. You just made his day. Literally. How long did these take? A couple months, at least? Especially if you take breaks to beef or whatever."

And just like that, she felt him tense up again, and try to move away from her. She kept one hand on his elbow and managed to hook her other arm around his neck in an only halfway-awkward, semi-rough side-hug. So basically, like most of their hugs. He didn't like it, but didn't struggle as much as she thought he would. He was only one curled lip from baring his teeth at her, though.

"Aw, c'mon you buff baby. Cheer up, we like them." Enid put her chin down on his shoulder, and it had the intended effect; namely, he got less rigid, and slowly softened back to some semblance of his less guarded normal. Outside, K.O. had finally allowed Brandon and RMS to escape, only to go bombard Sparko with what was likely the saga of his new sweater. Eventually, Rad let out a deep breath, and relaxed slightly into the side hug. Tactile goober couldn't resist. He bumped her shoulder with his, and snorted.

"Tsk, I know. I give the best gifts."

Even mumbled halfway under his breath, the swagger was a good sign that his ruffled spirits were back on the rise. He got awful sensitive about his pastimes, especially those that didn't contribute to the defensive armor that formed the image he liked to project. There were several people around the plaza that had found individual holes in the wall, but only she and K.O. (and presumably Rad's own parents) knew the extent of it. And he did not like it. Enid was slowly learning moderation in poking the tender spots, especially when he was feeling particularly recalcitrant.

"There's our favorite meathead, back in form." She released him with a rough pat to the back. "But keep telling yourself that."

* * *

A/N:

Radicles might be my spirit animal. XD

It should be noted, this collection will be simultaneously ignoring and acknowledging that these people are lycanthropes in people-suits. It will be clearly obvious in each chapter which I am going with. I'm kinda unsubtle. XD

I'm still searching for typos. I know they're here.


	2. Chapter 2 - No Work, Just Play

She might rag on him a lot, but Enid was well aware that Radicles was probably the only friend she had that wouldn't give her any flack for wanting to spend her day playing in a kiddy pool. Which was good because bugger what people would think of her; the only thing that was going to budge her from where she sat in the water was something directly threatening to her safety.

Immediately post what Enid would only call battle with a clusterfuck of Jethros, several things had happened rapidly in the time it took K.O. to zone out while staring at his Pow Card. First and foremost, Enid was sure that the sun was bright enough to beam straight through her body and into her heart, and was most likely going to give her a serious case of Immediate Cardiac Arrest (being the daughter of a vampire certainly didn't help what may turn out to be a really brutal sunburn, at the least). She gave Rad a weak swat to the arm, which she immediately regretted; he was sweaty and gross, she was sweaty and gross, and together the whole brief experience was entirely unpleasant. He did look over at her, though; he didn't roast under the sun like she did, but he certainly wasn't much more comfortable.

"Hey."

"Hm?"

"Can you levitate me over to the side of the building? I think… I think I'm gonna spend the rest of the day under the hose over there." She closed her eyes to at least block out the blinding light. "I feel like if I exert any effort whatsoever, I am going to burst into flames."

Rad leaned forwards with a pained grunt, forearms propped on his knees.

"Yeah, I hear you. Too bad we only have one hose. I like that idea."

"I don't wish this suffering on anyone. We can share."

"'Kay." He pushed himself to his feet, and offered her a hand. Sweaty skin or no, the brief luxury of being pulled to her feet under someone else's power was something she was not about to pass up right now. Once on her feet, however, his grip tightened a fraction. "Hey Enid, I have an idea."

"I swear to Cob, if it doesn't involve the hose and some shade, I don't care."

"No no, it does, you'll like it." He released her hand, and thumbed a gesture towards the warehouse. "So we recently got a shipment of stuff in, including all the crap for the summer displays." He cracked a smirk, baring a fang. "Swear, we have a whole box of bathing suits and Super Soakers in storage." The smirk widened. "And a box of kiddy pools."

She stared at him long enough for him to start to get uncomfortable, before laying her hand on his shoulder, sweaty skin be damned.

"That is the most beautiful thing anyone has ever said to me." And she gripped the collar of his shirt. "Take me to this box of bathing suits."

His smirk became a full-blown grin, and he turned to jog back into the bodega. The sudden air conditioning gave her the energy required to move after him, never mind the mounting excitement. Forget the hose, this was gonna be way better!

K.O. was still outside staring at his Pow Card. He'd be fine.

Once in the warehouse, Rad shoved some boxes out of the way before finding the three he wanted. He tossed one big one at her feet.

"Bathing suits."

He found another, even larger one.

"Kiddy pools."

And the last, largest one, before wading through the other crud and arriving at a pallet.

"Miscellaneous pool toys," he gestured to the box before patting the wrapped pallet, "and Super Soakers." He looked proud and smug leaning on the pallet, and Enid let him have it; he was right, she loved this idea.

She tore into the box at her feet. Sure enough, it was filled with swimsuits of every imaginable size, style and color. She discarded the ones that there was no way anyone here would ever see her in, including a couple, erm, extra "strapping" two-pieces. In the middle of the heap was a dark one-piece dotted with clouds that would serve well enough. It was just for the afternoon, she didn't have to commit. Also, sunscreen. She was going to sunscreen up before she went back outside again.

"Dibs on the break room, Rad. Come in, and I'll kill you."

He was only halfway paying attention, too preoccupied with tearing the wrapper off the pallet of water guns.

"Yeah yeah. I'll trade you then, when you're done. I'll be on isle eight, with the air pumps. No way I'm blowing up the pool by hand. Er, mouth." He stopped his tearing and turned to look at her over his shoulder. "We're not getting any more work done today, are we?"

"Hell no. No work, just play."

"That idea, I love it. But…" he idly scratched his jaw in thought, "what do we do about Mr. Gar? Y' know, when he inevitably finds out?"

"Uh, bow and scrape like we usually do? I vote we cross that terrifying, dangerous bridge when we get to it."

He snorted a laugh, removing two of the large water guns from the pallet, before gesturing to the kiddy pools.

"You have a preference in pool choice?"

"Yes. The coolest one, obviously."

Which was how she found herself stuffing a fully inflated dragon-shaped kiddy pool out through the back door, while Rad trailed behind with towels over his shoulder and his arms full of at least one of every type of toy out of the box. By the time they got out to the side of the store, K.O. had corralled his thoughts back to the present. He was less than impressed with their choice of afternoon time-waster.

He was far more impressed by the stranger with an impractically large but otherwise badass sword, who apparently was so absorbed in his own level that that was what he lived for.

Sounded horrifyingly boring.

But she had other, more interesting matters at hand. Namely, oh man this kiddy pool was the best thing to happen to her yet today, even above and beyond her favorite fanfic updating that morning, and ohmyCobthewaterfeltsocoolandsoniiiice…

They may have overfilled the pool a little bit, because when Rad got in he displaced enough water to cause it to cascade over the sides, to much giggling from the both of them. This also caused a few of the inflatables to float away, but Rad handily retrieved them in short order.

"I am willing to admit this was the best idea you've ever had." Enid leaned back in the water, buoyed by the water wings she sure as hell didn't need, but upon seeing them threw the orange cuffs on for shits and giggles. It had been far too easy to convince Rad to wear the pink swim cap for laughs, even if it had taken a hot minute to stuff his curly hair up under it. "Totally just one-eighty'd my day."

"I was wondering why a hero supply store needed to sell kiddy pools, and I will never question it again." Rad had his hands busy filling the reservoir on a Super Soaker, even as he idly looked around for targets. "Too bad Squirt didn't wanna join us."

"His loss, this is great. Although…" Enid leaned back against the bouncy walls of the pool. "I feel a little bad."

"I'm sorry. 'Bad?' You are capable of feeling bad for someone?" Rad shot her a mock look of shock, to which her reply was to splash water in his face. He just laughed it off.

"The frozen block where my heart should be has a K.O.-shaped hole in it, just so you know." She slowly batted the inflatable shark around between her hands. "I'm just…wondering if we should have let him go."

Rad shrugged a shoulder, replacing the now-filled reservoir in the water gun.

"Huh. I guess. I mean, he should be safe, right? He went with some strange guy who is armed with an absolutely _massive_ sword and probably a yoked power level—"

"Um…" Well, when he put it _that_ way…

"—and they are out in the wilderness alone, or wherever that guy's quest was taking him—"

"Oh no."

"—I mean, who could even _find_ them out there? Sword-guy looks like he knows what he's doing, but K.O. is so friendly he'd follow just about anyone—"

Enid scrubbed her hands down her face.

"Oh Cob, what have we done!?"

"—but I am wondering what he needed all those health potions for. He must have cleaned the shelf out."

Enid gave him a much more vigorous splash to the face.

"Dammit, Radicles, clean the meat out of your ears and _listen_ to yourself! We just let K.O. go _alone_ with an armed stranger into the woods! If anything happens, his mom is going to _murder_ us!"

"Oh? Oh." To his credit, it took him less time than normal for him to piece back though his own words and string together what had gone wrong. He sat up straight in the pool. " _Oh._ Yeah, you make a valid point."

"No shit." Enid stood back up, looking furtively—and, to be honest, quite ineffectively—around the plaza parking lot. "Did you see which way they went?"

Rad made a grand, sweeping, and ultimately equally ineffective gesture with an arm.

"Um, _towards the woods?_ " He stood as well, removing the goggles from his eyes and letting them hang around his neck. "Do your sweet ninja skills help you track people through the forest?"

"Yes? I mean, no? Agh, I'm not there yet, okay?" Enid took a deep breath to gather her thoughts into something less chaotic. "Okay, we'll just have to start searching somewhere." And right about here was when Enid wished they had bothered to look around for sandals or something in those boxes. Her shoes were inside, with the rest of her real clothes, and she didn't feel like dripping her way through the store to get them.

Clearly in the same frame of mind, Rad used a finger to gesture to the both of them.

"Are we just going in our swim suits?"

"We both wear crop-tops to battle every day. Quite honestly, my innards are more protected now than I usually bother with."

"Point." He made a show of cracking his neck and shoulders. "Let's get this done, then."

Enid nodded, stepping out of the pool.

She regretted it immediately. The asphalt was _hot_ ; did it burn this much when they came outside? It must have, but after soaking in the cold water of the kiddy pool it felt that much worse. It felt like the bottoms of her feet were frying. She tried a second foot, maybe it wasn't that bad when she was fully out of the— noooooooooooope, still awful. She did the Hot Pavement Dance for all of one second before getting back in the pool. Rad cocked a brow and stared at her, which she ignored with all the effort she could muster.

That was a lot of hot, black parking lot. And then the street. And the woods.

There was also this pool, right here.

She sat back down in the water, pulling the floaty shark back to herself.

"…you know what? He's probably just fine."

Rad's other brow met the first one, and he took a single foot out of the pool, gingerly testing the ground. Both his eyes widened, and he promptly rejoined her in the water. He snapped his goggles back onto his face, and retrieved the Super Soaker.

"Yup, he's fine. I certainly didn't get any weird vibes from the sword guy."

Enid nodded in hearty agreement; it was nice when they could reach a mutual accord on lazy, stupid shit.

"Exactly. Also, anybody who uses the term 'swash some buckle' in an otherwise normal sentence is probably a harmless nerd."

Rad waved a dismissive hand in the direction of the forest.

"The health potions were probably a pro's precaution. Hard to get those on a quest through the wilderness."

"Yes. Besides, K.O.'s scrappier than he looks. We'll see a power fist in the clouds if he's really in trouble."

"Yeah." He leaned back against the edge of the pool, arms over the sides and water gun momentarily forgotten in his lap. He was uncharacteristically quite for a few minutes before pushing his goggles up onto his forehead, idly worrying at his lip with one sharp canine. When he glanced back at her, he appeared surprisingly unguarded. "Hey, Enid?"

"Hm?"

"Are we bad people?"

That was a hell of a question. She would fully admit that she was not what someone would call a "nice" person. She didn't go looking for people to help, or even generally offer help that wasn't asked for (and, quite frankly, had no immediate payoff). She found it awful difficult to give a damn about other people's problems. It was freeing with customers; she would admit it was a… "friendship block" with her social life. She had few people that she would count as more than fair-weather friends or even passing acquaintances. She could literally count them all on her hands. One was across from her, sitting in the pool, and Cob knew he had his own share of interpersonal issues. Namely, raging narcissism. Even when some of the ego was a front, he was still otherwise blunt, and rough, and sometimes downright gross. You had to dig deep to get to his fluffy, teddy bear interior. She wasn't so sure she even had one. They were both proud, and stubborn, and had tempers that could be rubbed the wrong way more easily than was normal. They made one hell of a catalytic team, in both good and bad ways. Enid hugged the floaty shark to herself. She hoped Rad didn't notice.

"I'm cold, you're coarse, so yes. Probably."

"Hm." He leaned more of his weight against the pool, causing some of the water to trickle out over the sides. They were probably gonna have to put the hose back in to fill it up again. "I wonder if our Pow Cards would be higher if we weren't."

Because of course Pow Cards came with a morality check. And, quite frankly, if they were training to be heroes, they were eventually going to need to start acting the part. That title came with expectations. There was a reason Mr. Gar was cool.

"Hey, don't get on that now. No Work Just Play Day, alright?" Because that was a more downer of a topic than she had really wanted to tackle today. Or this week. She threw the shark at his face like a spear, and he blocked with a forearm, grinning.

"Yeah." He picked the water gun back up resting it against one shoulder. "At least we aren't evil."

"Quite frankly, evil sounds tiring." She crossed her arms over her chest and shot him a cheeky grin. "Also, you're too much of a warm creampuff to be evil."

"Oh, how _dare_ you." He put a dramatic hand to his chest as he pulled the goggles back down over his eyes. "I'll show you how evil I can be." He lifted that gun faster than she thought he could, and she was soon squinting and sputtering through a mouthful of water.

"Hey! Ppffbbb!" She managed to grab the large beach ball and block the water stream with it. She was grinning despite herself. "Aren't you not supposed to aim for the face with those things?"

"Who cares! Screw the rules, I'm evil!" He barely got the last few words out, since he was laughing around them. So was she.

He may be a jerk, but he was a terrible villain.

It was a long shot, but Enid sunk down backwards under the water, which simultaneously let her escape from the Rad's assault and stretch her legs to the other side of the pool. She snapped a foot up, and felt it connect with something hard and plastic. She came back up out of the water, wiping her eyes quick enough to watch the Super Soaker go spinning away through the air, to land on the lawn behind them.

"Ha! What now?"

His shock wore off quick, and he gave her a sharp-toothed grin that would have looked less-than-friendly if she hadn't been so well acquainted with him. She was probably wearing one to match.

"I don't need a gun to soak you. We can do this the old fashioned way!"

And Enid knew she had reached the highlight of her day when it all came down to a violent, childish splashfight. She loved it.

"Oh, I am going to crush you! You have some pretty big man-paws, stockboy, but I have two twin baby brothers; trust me, my splash game is _lit._ "

"Can't be _lit_ when it's been _drowned!_ "

This time she was prepared for the wall of water that came flying at her face. It didn't take long for the splashing to turn in to pushing and shoving, and soon a full-contact wrestling match. Whenever either would fight back up for air, it was to sputter, laugh, and hurl more no-bite insults at each other. They called a truce only when they stared at each other from opposite ends of the pool, Rad at the tail and Enid at the head, and realized that most of the water had long since been moved into the parking lot. He retrieved the hose with his telekinesis, and Enid was able to reach the beach ball without too much effort.

She leaned against the inflatable dragon head as she caught her breath, squeezing the ball to her chest. Oh yes, best idea. Peppered with other not-so-great ideas, but otherwise the greatest thing to happen today.

And then she remembered that there was a plastic kiddy slide in the stock room.

* * *

AN:

Screw the rules, I have money-oh wait, no I don't.

Because these two literally just let their young friend wander into the woods with an armed stranger for an unspecified length of time with almost no resistance.

Also, unless he left money on the counter, he robbed them of those health potions.

You only get an angst-blip, because any angst I write is always hot garbage. And because both Rad and Enid are emotionally constipated. XD

It is late at night, I am sleep-blind and cannot see, so there are probably typos all up in here.


	3. Chapter 3 - Siblings

Sometimes, K.O. wondered if being friends with Rad and Enid was anything like having siblings.

Admittedly, he didn't have any first hand experience to go off of, but he liked to think so. With the exception of home and school, his free time had become so intertwined with theirs that he wondered if that was what sharing a life with a brother and sister was like. Granted, the siblings he saw the most lived directly across the street from the bodega and were probably not the best example for how a family should act. But at the same time… the parallels between Rad and Enid were sometimes startling. Especially when they got mean.

Some days, they were downright _nasty_ to each other. They got loud when they argued, and said stuff to each other K.O. couldn't dare imagine telling a friend, even in jest. He could tell when they got really into it, because Rad would come at her with teeth bared and muscles tense, anger drawing his back up and making it quite clear which of the three of them was the tallest, and it was one heck of an intimidating display. But Enid gave it right back, with that glare and caustic hiss that could curdle the blood of most other people, size differences in either direction never made her pull her punches at all, and they would spend the next few minutes being scary to each other. K.O. wasn't naïve enough not to realize that they got less scary when he was in the room. Even when they were at their most heated, they knew when he was there, and he was perceptive enough to grasp when they were curbing their language for his benefit. It was more noticeable in Rad, who did not have quite the same creativity in language to fallback to something less potent to account for K.O.'s sensitive ears, but the two of them could have curt, "coded" arguments for hours.

K.O. worried, sometimes, when they thought he wasn't within earshot. His mom would be so upset with him if he uttered half the words they spat at each other anywhere near her presence, and especially not like they did, inches from each other's faces. He had a few questions to ask some day, what some of those words even meant and why they were insults, but when the two would inevitably separate to cool their heads, it was clear that whatever they said to each other _hurt._

It wasn't any fun to listen to them hurt each other, but he was at a loss as to how to make it stop. They were both so _stubborn._

And then, almost as quickly as they had managed to ignite each other's tempers, it would be done. He wasn't sure how, but the glaring and snarling and blatant ignoring would just disappear, and he would find them leaning against the counter, or perched on pallets in the warehouse, or sitting on the tailgate of Rad's van, doing whatever they did on their phones. But quietly. Every so often one would show something to another, and get a quick grin out of them, before they'd continue. K.O. never _ever_ heard them apologize to each other, so he never understood how the arguments ended. It was relieving, though, when things mellowed back to normal. He always felt tired for them, afterwards.

He really hoped all adult friendships weren't as complicated as theirs.

Sometimes, even when they were friendly with each other, he still had absolutely no idea what was going on. The "secret" handshakes were one thing (that he could not replicate no matter how hard he watched them perform it; they had other ones they used on him, but it wasn't whatever beautiful hand-magic they used with each other), the conversations were quite another. It was typically those moments when he understood the individual words, mostly, but the context, and thus the entire gist of the conversation, was entirely lost on him. It usually occurred when they thought he either couldn't hear them, or wasn't paying attention.

Just the day before he had overheard a quiet exchange over by the slushy machines, while he was mopping in the neighboring isle. He had to peek around the corner carefully to watch; maybe it was the years of experience they had on him, but they seemed to catch on quick when he was trying to be stealthy.

That, or it was an ability honed by years of trying to dodge Mr. Gar.

"Tsk, damn, another text. I am tempted to turn my phone off, but then I would both be bored and my mom would flip." Even muttered from around one thick tusk and a straw, Rad's irritation seeped into everything. Enid leaned over a bit to cop a peek at his phone as she tried to jam a lid onto her slightly-too-full slushie.

"Are they blowing you up over there?"

"Yeah. Just the usual cycle. Every few months it's like they have a burning need to check that I'm not doing something stupid."

"Says the guy who put thrusters on his van." She grinned, and gave him a friendly push to the shoulder.

"Hey, that was _cool._ And I don't mean fun-stupid, I mean stupid-stupid." His frown broke just long enough to crack a smirk and give her a gentle shove back, before he sighed at his screen again. "Swear to Cob, if you listened to my folks right now you'd think I was in some sort mouth-foaming rut that robbed me of all common sense. Like, I'm not an animal." Rad's expression morphed into one of intense disgust, and he suppressed a shudder. "Also, ew, not a conversation I want to have with either of my parents, for any damned reason at all."

"Ugh, shit, that? I _hate_ that." She made a face around her own straw, and joined him against the steel counter. "I get that too. Anytime I go out anywhere past eight o'clock, they check to make sure I'm not sneaking out to go mess around with someone. You'd think that for parents who were nocturnal, it wouldn't be an issue. Can you imagine my dad giving someone a Shotgun Warning? Blech."

Rad grinned at her.

"Your dad is a massive, ripped-ass werewolf. I think he'd just stand shirtless by the door and threaten to eat them."

"That does _not_ make it any less embarrassing." She took another sip, idly drumming her fingers against the counter. "Lately, though, it's less that, and more like they think I'm going to just start snorting drugs at any moment."

"Ha! I've gotten that, too. For a while my dad would check every water bottle I brought into the house to make sure it was _just_ water, never mind that he can't tell drinking alcohol from the cleaning kind." He put his phone in his pocket, sighed, and leaned against her shoulder; she didn't protest. "I think this is just the Teenage Curse; we've been hearing about this nonsense since, what, middle school? I think parents are hardwired to just ramp the rhetoric up the closer to independence you get."

"Explains the sudden flurry of texting activity."

"No shit." After a few moments, Rad uttered some manner of short, sharp snort of amusement. "Although, I don't know how your parents were, but long before I had my own computer, my folks were crap about checking browser histories. They certainly didn't know how to clear them, never mind think that I would." And K.O. didn't quite understand the smile that slithered across Rad's face, toothy and not particularly nice but definitely very, very sneaky.

Enid did, considering her cackle, and she gave him an enthusiastic fist-bump.

"Dude, I know! That was my saving grace sometimes. I certainly didn't tell them what was in most of that fanfic…"

Rad joined her in whatever manner of sinister humor had overtaken them both, and gave her a loud high-five.

"I would think that people who grew up in a highly advanced, freely space-faring society would be able to figure out Earth's computers, but apparently not?" His smile suddenly fell right off his face, and he looked both horrified and thoughtful. "That, or I'm only thinking I got away with it, and they are going to embarrass me in the near future…"

Enid took a long, loud sip of her slushie, shaking her head.

"Uh-uh. If your parents are anything like mine, they wouldn't be able to sit on that knowledge for several years without bringing it up. That's a Talk-triggering event, if they found out."

"True, true."

And K.O. had so many questions, he could hardly contain himself. Why didn't Enid want her dad to warn her on the danger of shotguns? What kind of conversation could Rad not want to have with his parents? Why was it so important for the two of them to clear their browser history?

And what was up with all these sneaky smiles?

K.O. buried his hand in his hair in frustration. Ugh! Sometimes he just didn't know what kind of conversation they were having. They never talked like this around him, and got super weird whenever he brought it up. He wanted to _ask things_ , but knowing the both of them, if he wanted answers, he was gonna have to be super clever about asking, lest they catch on to him. Like his first stealth mission into Boxmore, but way better and totally not a trap.

In his excitement, he rounded the corner of the isle, to both Rad and Enid's surprise, and blurted, "Enid, why are you sticking pills up your nose?"

Well, poop. There was nothing stealthy about that at all.

To prove it, both Rad and Enid executed what must have been the most glorious, colorful spit-takes that had ever occurred at the bodega; Enid inhaled and then promptly coughed up what looked like a possibly lethal volume of Atomic Orange, and that disregarded the painful amount of Grape Escape that erupted from Rad's nose. They both spent a few moments sneezing, coughing, and possibly crying, before Enid looked up from where she had wiped her face with a napkin with a sharp, "What!?"

K.O. thought his question was pretty straightforward, but in the interest of getting a not-dodgy answer out of her, he thought it best to clarify.

"You said something about 'snorting drugs.' My mom takes her medications and vitamins in the morning when we have breakfast, but why would you put those up your nose?"

"U-uh…"

From where he was still busy removing several splashes of liquid purple from his face, Rad just started laughing. Enid gave him a scathing glare, and he simply laughed harder, to the point of having to either lean against the counter or be content to stay doubled over. She grit her teeth, and hissed out something to him that sounded a whole lot like, "help me." That was apparently not happening, because Rad threw his hands up and stumbled the short distance to a crate to sit on, cackling all the way.

Enid put her hands on her hips, took a deep breath, and schooled her features back to perfect calm. K.O. hugged his mop in anticipation; Serious Enid was Honest Enid, and always gave great, super wise answers.

"I am not putting pills up my nose."

"Oh. Then what does 'snorting drugs' mean?"

"I am not putting pills up my nose."

"Yeah, you said that. Then why do your parents think—"

And Enid leaned forward, put her hands on her knees, and brought herself down to K.O.'s eye level, with all the gravity that came with that.

"I am _not_. Putting _pills_. Up my _nose_."

He recognized the signs, now. Never mind; this answer was dodgy as heck!

"…That's the only answer you're going to give me, isn't it?"

"Smart kid." She grinned, and reached out to pat his shoulder. The pats soon turned into a firm, fierce grip, and her smile suddenly left as quickly as it had come. "Also, you are not to mention this conversation to your mother for the next ten years."

"Aw, ten years! I'll be, like, super old then!" He rolled the request back over in his head. Wait. "But… why should I keep it a secret from my mommy?"

"Well first, ouch." She leaned back against the slushie counter, retrieving her drink from where it had been momentarily forgotten. "And second, because I don't want your mother to butcher me."

"But my mom really likes you guys!" Which was true; whenever he would recount whatever eventful thing had happened to him at work, she always had nice things to say about his coworkers, which made him super happy.

"Given the topic, I would rather not make her un-like me in any way."

K.O. crossed his arms and huffed.

"I still don't get why this is important."

"Y'know what? It isn't. So just forget about it completely, and don't mention it to your mom." Enid was smiling, which was nice, but there was something _under_ the smile that he wasn't so keen on. Which was, of course, the entire reason for all his confusion today. Uhg, adults just had to be so _layered_ and _vague_.

"Will not telling her hurt her in some way?"

"Definitely not." And this Enid said which such absolute clarity and conviction that K.O. honestly believed it. "It will simply keep my head attached to my body."

"Oh. Okay, I guess." He still didn't like it, and did not have a good track record for keeping secrets from her that were not surprises or gifts, but if it let Enid "keep her head," then he'd try. He couldn't see what all the panic was about. "B-but I still have other questions!"

"As long as it's not about pills and noses, have at it." Enid leaned most of her weight against the counter again, relaxed.

K.O. shifted his gaze over to Rad, who had managed to suck down more than half that purple slushie in the short time it took Enid to be evasive.

"What does the word 'rut' mean, and why do your parents think you're in one?"

Rad suddenly re-inhaled his slushie before coughing a lot of it back up. This time it was Enid's turn to laugh riotously, slapping her thigh and just barely managing to set her drink on a solid surface before she dropped it on the floor. Rad looked distinctly cornered, even while he was, again, trying to wipe slushie from his face. He shot Enid a look, and she promptly threw her hands up in the air. Just like he had done. K.O. was starting to think there was a trend, here.

"Nooooope, nope nope nope nope. I'm not touching this one." She brought her laughter down to an unfriendly grin, reaching for her drink again. "I've had my shot, without any help from you. Dig your way out of your own hole."

Rad raked her with a glare that she simply smirked directly into, and took a long sip out of her drink. He huffed, crossed his arms, and regarded K.O. for a moment before leaning forward to put his elbows on his knees. He looked all geared up to start an explanation, except that he seemed to rethink it, closed his mouth with a sharp click, thought about it some more, opened his mouth again, and then slapped his hands onto his thighs with a loud sigh that sounded very much to K.O. like Giving Up.

"Nope."

"…what?" He was _so. Very. Confused._

Enid simply lost it; if she laughed any harder, K.O. was going to start getting worried.

"Just nope. Not even gonna try."

"But Rad!"

Rad shook his head vehemently, doing what would otherwise be silly things to his antennae and curly hair.

"Not on your life. Or _my_ life, more accurately. That is the sort of conversation I'm not touching until your mom starts it."

K.O. buried his hands in his hair in frustration.

"Why are both of you so afraid of my mom?!"

"Because your mom is on par with Mr. Gar, who we are already terrified of, and we would both like to live to see twenty." Rad shrugged a shoulder. "Or twenty- _one_ , at least."

"Ugh, but I wanna know what you're talking about!"

"You will, little man. Trust me, one day you will. _Then_ we can have a conversation." Despite the fact that it had caused him discomfort twice now, he went back to working through his slushie. "At least at that point it won't be anything new, so your mom can't blame us."

K.O. scrubbed his hands down his face and resisted the urge to stomp a foot.

"Why do you both have to be like this!?"

"Self preservation. One hundred percent."

"Self-preserv-huh? Everything you guys say just confuses me more!" K.O. did stomp a foot, then. Just a little. "I don't like it!"

Rad crossed his arms over his chest, his usual response when he planned to be unpleasantly stubborn.

"Too bad. I like living. So."

K.O. _really_ didn't like it, but he had passed frustration and was getting a little mad at this point.

 _"Raaaaad…"_

"K.O." And Enid left her drink on the counter to come kneel down next to him, almost between him and Rad, putting the three of them at a really ugly triangle to each other. Also, she was suddenly close enough to temporarily derail his train of thought. She put her arms around her knees, and gave him a look through her bangs that closed his mouth almost readily. There was Serious Enid, and then there was… whatever this was. He did not swallow. No he did not.

"As much as I'm enjoying watching you make him really uncomfortable, even Rad isn't a dense musclehead all of the time." She tucked some of her hair behind her ears. "He is one hundred percent right to keep his mouth shut about this."

"But..!"

"No buts. I'm gonna to let you in on some of the Truths of Life here, because we're a little further down the road than you." She sighed, and spared Rad only the quickest glance over her shoulder. "The issue at hand is that, frankly, you're still a kid, while we are not." And she put a hand on his shoulder to silence the rebuttal that he didn't even know he was making. Wow, she _was_ good. "You're awesome, and we adore you, and you are more powerful than some of the adults and miscellaneous idiots that we have running around here, but you are still firmly in the 'elementary' portion of your education." Well… she wasn't _wrong_ , but he didn't have to like it. Probably. Enid gestured to herself and the alien over her shoulder. "Rad and I are currently grappling with the awesome, beautiful, terrible thing called Legal Adulthood. Delightful as it is, it has rules. One of those rules is how this conversation we are having right now is going. Under _no circumstances_ , as I am not your older sister or some other member of your family, should I be explaining the details of what you wanted me to explain. Not before you reach an age where your mom explains it to you on her own accord. Rad's conversation?" And she thumbed a gesture at him again. "Discussing his with you before your mom starts That Talk is not only in extremely poor taste, but is scraping dangerously close to getting him put in _jail_ , if some sourpuss eavesdropper felt like screwing him over." She gave him a gentle pat with the hand still on his shoulder. "But, more likely, the extremely poor taste of our conversation would summon your mother, and we are both much more afraid of her judgment than incarceration. Probably shouldn't be, but there it is." She shrugged a shoulder, before brushing more of her hair out of her face. "You following me so far?"

All K.O. could do was nod. That was… a lot for him to think about. It always appeared to him that adults could just do anything they wanted. He didn't know it came with rules. Like, he was well aware that laws were a thing, and every good hero and civilian had to follow those, but he didn't know there were rules about what you could talk about. He also didn't know those could be serious enough to send a person to prison.

And whatever "incarceration" was sounded just awful. Was it anything like incineration—super fantastic word Dendy had taught him and he'd brought one day to trash talk some Boxmore 'bots to amazing affect—because if so, _yikes_.

He signed, and scuffed his heel into the floor.

"Okay, I get it. I mean, I really _don't_ get it, but considering I don't want you to be in trouble. And _definitely_ not incinerated."

Enid smiled; Rad had similar look on his face as when he tried to swallow four hotdogs at once.

"Thanks." And she patted K.O. on the shoulder again. "We appreciate it. Trust us; give it a few years, and we can fill your ear with every vile answer you could possibly want."

One year sounded like too long a wait; a few years sounded almost impossible, but he could do it. He _would_ do it. Like a really, _really_ patient stake-out.

As K.O. grabbed his mop and turned back down his isle, Rad leaned into Enid with a nudge to her shoulder.

"Nice save. K.O.'s mom really would incinerate us, wouldn't she? You're right, that's way worse than jail."

* * *

They were somewhat calmer and gentler when K.O. could catch each alone. At the very least, they didn't have each other to needle, and typically didn't give K.O. anywhere near the same grief (like, Rad could still be a bit of a meanie sometimes, but at least K.O. was pretty sure he was mostly kidding).

Sometimes, when he was done with the cleaning, he would join Enid at the register. Once or twice he acted as a bagger for a few particularly large orders, but often he would just drape himself over the counter, casually playing with whatever was at hand as she poked at her phone. When she was idle, he would ask questions. She knew all kinds of things.

"How did you choose Gar's to start your hero's journey?"

Enid snorted into her hand.

"I'm still not sure I'm on my 'hero's journey,' K.O. It wasn't the primary reason I got a job."

"Oh." That answer was less fun than what he was hoping for. "What _was_ the primary reason, then?"

She sighed, put her head down on her arms, and didn't take her eyes off her phone one as she spoke to him.

"I'm gonna let you know right now, so it won't be a shock later, but getting older is expensive. I'm just glad I don't have to pay rent." She did look up from her phone then, and arced a brow at him. "You should ask Rad about paying car insurance some time. And that's small beans. You want a real horror story? Look up what college tuition goes for nowadays."

"Hm." Man, adulthood sounded…expensive. "Is it worth it?"

"Is what worth it?"

"Getting old?"

Endi shot him a Totes Not Serious frown, and lobbed a pack of gum at his shoulder.

"Tsk, I'm not _old_ yet, you little goober. Just older than you."

"Yeah, but you get to do so many cool things! Like, mom doesn't mind me fighting Boxmore 'bots with you guys, but I still can't stay up 'till ten o'clock." Which to him sounded so cool, but she made it sound so not cool. And tiring. And _expensive_. "Is it worth it?"

She put her phone down onto the counter before dropping her face into her arms. She was like that for a few moments, before turning slightly to regard him from under her purple bangs.

"Yeah, it is. Dwindling curfew that I frequently ignore. The ability to just… _go_ places, if I want. Being entirely unchained from someone else's schedule." She propped her chin up on one fist, smiling. "Independence is pretty dope, kiddo."

"Does independence ever get lonely?"

"Psh, not with the two of you just about glued to my heels, it doesn't." She reached an arm over to roughly mess with his hair. He laughed and let her. Not that it ever did anything to his hair anyways, but it made him feel nice.

"Well, as long as it doesn't make you lonely, independence sounds pretty good."

She smiled and gave him a gentle nudge to the shoulder, before returning her attention to her phone. She was like that for a long time, and it looked to K.O. that she was just scrolling through her various feeds and not really looking at the screen. She had gone right past several memes that she normally would have at least paused to share with people or favorite. More than bored, and not really sad… just…

"Are you okay?"

She gave a mild start, almost like she had forgotten he was still there.

"Yeah, I'm fine, kiddo."

"'Cause you're wearing your Lonely Face."

She clicked her tongue and scowled at him.

"I don't have a 'Lonely Face.' Just an Enjoying My Solitude Face."

K.O. shook his head emphatically.

"No, that's something different. More peaceful. This was definitely your Lonely Face, the one you sometimes make when is seems like you either push people away or don't ask for what you really want, and then wonder why you are by yourself."

There was a long, quiet pause at Enid simply stared at him, before she tried to hide a grin in the palm of one hand. She didn't do a very good job.

"…Sometimes, I am truly frightened by how swiftly you've become so astute."

"What does 'astute' mean?"

"Oh thank Cob, I've still got something on you."

"But Enid, what does 'astute'—hey!" He only halfheartedly tried to push her hands away from messing roughly through his hair again. He still wanted to know what that word meant, but he could always ask Dendy. She was smiling, he was laughing, and he enjoyed it.

When he had finished his assignments, the store was slow and there was nobody to help, sometimes he'd join Rad in the stockroom. He wasn't always quite as helpful here as he wanted to be, given the height of most of the shelves and the fact that he was too young to drive the forklift, but he and Rad could sure clear the loading dock of stuff quick when they worked together.

And sometimes, Rad would let him— _help_ him—make a fort out of the cardboard boxes before they were put in the baler. Which didn't happen as often as Mr. Gar would like, given that Rad had a habit of sleeping in said empty boxes.

Gave K.O. plenty of fort materials, though.

Sometimes they sat and did nothing at all. K.O. didn't always know what in the world Rad was talking about or why it was important, but he tried his best to keep up. The fact that Rad would continue the conversation right on without any clue that his friend was wracking his brain to understand was equal parts frustrating and pleasing; frustrating that Rad couldn't tell, but also made him immensely proud for no good reason that Rad just assumed that K.O. knew these grown-up things already. Like when adults greeted each other with, "oh, so remember when I told you that the city had put a lean on my friend's house? Well, guess what…" and the conversation just snowballed from there. Like, what kind of conversation even was that? All adults seemed to just _know_ , though.

Rad's conversations typically ranged wildly between vehicle mechanics, power lifting and the dietary benefits of some random amount of protein, but K.O. felt he was helping just by listening.

He had never heard Rad talk to Enid about any of this stuff, which made him feel special, too.

It also made K.O. more bold in asking questions, especially about Adult Things that were probably safe, considering he'd heard bits of such conversations happen _around_ him, but never _to_ him.

"Hey, Rad?"

Rad looked up from where he was reclining on a pile of crates, tossing a ball against the wall of the warehouse.

"Hey, Squirt. Pull up a box and sit."

K.O. pushed a heavy crate over—given the weight, probably more wrought-iron battle axes—and hopped up top. Rad continued throwing the ball against the wall, catching it lazily on the return. Every so often a throw would go wide on the bounce-back, but he would return the ball to his hand with a quick yank of his telekinesis.

K.O. kicked his heels against the side of the crate. Enid was the superior vault of knowledge for most things, but considering what he said he spent his pay check on (Enid had said something about car insurance), Rad seemed to have a pretty good grasp of How To Adult With Money, from K.O.'s admittedly limited point of view. Soooo… maybe he could help?

"What'cha need?"

"Well…" and he ran his fingers through his hair. Maybe he should just get to the bad-sounding parts first. "How much does an engine cost?"

Rad caught the ball again, pinning him with a look. "A what?"

"An engine. For a car." K.O. stopped swinging his legs, leaning over the side of the crate closer to his bigger friend. "How much does one cost?"

Rad seemed torn between absolute elation that K.O. would ask him anything about vehicles, and utter bewilderment that K.O. wanted to price engines. His follow-up question was, therefor, highly appropriate.

"Uhm… why?"

"For my mom. Maybe. I'm not sure."

Rad went back to tossing the ball against the stockroom wall, but not without arcing a brow and keeping one eye on K.O. while he did so. Elaboration was clearly in order.

"So, I heard my mom talking to some of her friends on the phone the other day, about needing to find some time to get her car 'serviced'? Like it sounded like some of the stuff you talk about all the time, but I don't remember you ever needing to find time to get it done."

A snort.

"Psh, yeah, because one: I don't talk about mundane stuff like that. Vehicle maintenance is an All The Time sort of thing. Guarantee your mom has had it done dozens of times. And two: I don't take my van to get serviced. I can do all that myself." He paused throwing the ball just long enough to give K.O. another look. "So where does buying an engine come into all of this? Engine work is way beyond a routine service, my dude."

"I asked her why it was so important to get the car serviced, and she said it keeps the car running well for a long time, and dirty fluids will eventually damage the engine. I know my mom is busy, so I was wondering if I could help her out, as a surprise, with anything I have left over after buying Pow Cards."

"By buying her a new engine?"

"Yes."

"So… from a fluids check, you skipped right to wanting to purchase a three thousand buck engine?"

"I mean… maybe?" K.O. scratched his hair, before stopping. "Wait, _three thousand technos_!?"

Rad stared at him for a moment, before throwing his head back and laughing. Not the mean laugh that seemed to come from the back of his throat, but the real one that came from his chest. It took a moment for him to get himself back under control, but he was grinning hard when he did.

"Bro, if your mom just needs, like, an oil change, just lead with that next time." He threw the ball again; this time it came right to K.O. on the rebound, who caught it and returned it, off the wall, to Rad. "Like, that is a way easier problem to fix. She said it _would_ damage the engine, not _had_. She may not have time, but we do." Rad bounced the ball back to K.O. again. "For most people I'd charge, but for your mom, I can do that for free."

K.O. clutched at the ball happily. "Wait, really? You'd do that?"

"Please. She somehow lets Enid and I drag you around to punch robots in the face. It's the least I could do."

"Yeah! She's gonna be so happy!" He discarded the ball over his shoulder before jumping down from the top of the crate. "Um, but won't Mr. Gar be mad that we aren't, y'know, doing work things?"

Rad stood and stretched, with several audible pops in his back and neck. He regarded K.O. from over his shoulder, smug.

"K.O., we are working on _your mom's car_. We tell Mr. Gar that and he's just gonna stammer and blush all over himself, and leave us alone. This is basically a free excuse to not do any real work."

"But I like working."

"Then you will really like 'working' on your mom's car." And he punctuated that emphasis with a whole lot of winking. "Do me a favor, then, Squirt. Go to the dojo and get your mom's keys, and then…" he looked around briefly for one of the inventory clipboards, before snatching the pen off of it; he caught K.O.'s arm, and carefully scribbled onto the back of his hand, "grab me these SKUs from the hardware isle. I'll get my stuff from the van, and meet you out there."

"Okay!" And K.O. darted towards the front of the store.

This was the part of Rad he liked best; the part that enjoyed what he did, to the point that he forgot to be crass and mean and pretend to be something he wasn't, and was so _happy_ doing it that it became a boon for other people. Enid had told K.O. once that Rad really just needed to get out of his own way; it hadn't made any sense at the time.

It kinda did, now.

* * *

There were some days, much more than others, when K.O. felt that the strange chaos that was Gar's Bodega really was a nicer version of the family across the street.

Because when everything went well, it went _super_ well.

The whole day had been nice, but as they locked up and started cleaning the store for the evening, Enid tapped K.O. on the shoulder.

"So. You wanna come with us to the lake tonight?"

"The lake?"

"Yeah. Apparently Brandon and RMS got their hands on some big fireworks, and they want to blow some stuff up with them. Should be exciting, with the possibility of some serious property damage." She shifted her weight, leaning against her broom. "You in?"

"Well, I want to, but if we stay out too late my mom won't let me. She doesn't want me up past nine." But fireworks, the lake! His friends! "I'll ask, though. I wanna go!"

Enid sucked air through her teeth.

"Now that is a problem. Like, nine is when I get up from an evening nap and go do things." She mussed his hair before going back to her sweeping. "Well, good luck. If you need any help, Rad and I are champion beggars. We have years of practice with Mr. Gar. We'll just adjust tactics with your mother."

Turns out, it was (mostly) entirely unnecessary; after his mom's initial, "that's a ways past your bedtime, pumpkin," K.O. dropped a, "but Mooooom, I never get to go to the lake with Rad and Enid. They'll tell you themselves! They are champion beggars!" It seemed like a convincing argument, because his mom laughed, slapped her thigh, and strolled back to the bodega with him to speak to his friends in person.

It went easier than expected, and neither Enid nor Rad had to beg once; the usual adult exchange: where are you going, what are you doing, and then his mom dropped the bombshell:

"Just bring him home by eleven, please? He has to go to school tomorrow, and I would like him to get at least a _little_ sleep."

He just about scraped his jaw off the floor; he never got to stay out that late with friends if it wasn't a sleepover. No time for scraping, though, he was too busy exchanging high-fives.

He grabbed their wrists excitedly.

"Guys, we should bring snacks!"

Enid snorted.

"Pbbft, way ahead of you. We've been quietly shoveling things into the back of Rad's van for an hour, now. Just pick what you want and bring it; it's backed up to the loading dock."

Which was how the tree of them arrived at the lake shore with two cases of chips, several gallons of a variety of soda, K.O.'s pair of lightning nachos, and a large melon that all three had decided was thematically appropriate for the summer evening. Rad backed his van as close as he dared to the water's edge, with the intention that they would all just sit on the tailgate to enjoy the view. Enid got out both to guide him in, and to hiss at people encroaching too close to "their spot." K.O. didn't think they could really claim any part of the lake at all, but both Enid and Rad heartily insisted that this was always their spot when they were here, van or no. The locals knew; the strangers would learn.

Which was how K.O. found himself sandwiched between his two best friends, legs dangling over the tailgate, happily shoveling nachos into his face with the absolute best view of the lake (and the eventual brightly-colored explosions; he could see Brandon lugging several heavy boxes out of his car on the opposite shore, while RMS did who-knew-what with several long rolls of fuses). He enjoyed just sitting, listening to Enid and Rad shoot jokes and gossip back and forth over his head. Because Enid laughed from her stomach and Rad's rumbled up from his chest and it was just nice to hear them get along, without having to team up to wreck some robots to do it.

More people began to trickle in as it got darker, and the occasional unsuspecting stranger wandered into the line of sight between the van and impromptu firework launcher, which made Rad growl and Enid glare and some poor sap flee in terror. K.O. felt very comfortable, now officially part of That Crew That Always Sets Up By the Big Flat Rock, and he clung excitedly to both their arms when RMS got the show rolling with a theatric, " _lets blow some stuff UP!_ "

And then proceeded to blow up a lot of stuff with a lot of fireworks.

Neither of his friends budged an inch when he linked his arms between each of theirs, letting him settle right in between the both of them because they were tall and solid and warm, and he certainly wouldn't remember how the rest of the night ended because he was asleep before they started the trip back. But his mom was happy to show him the many—many!—photos and selfies they took on his behalf.

And even if it wasn't like having siblings, it was par for the course for being friends with Rad and Enid.

* * *

AN:

Yes, "lien" spelled "lean" because K.O. has no reason to even know what having a lien on a house even means.

As the youngest of four, I tried to pull whatever dregs of memories I have from interacting with my siblings. But I'm approx. 20+ years from K.O.'s age, so a lot of those have been lost to time. Now we all just harass each other. XD

Also, writing from a child's point of view is just the pits and I hope I'll never try to do it again. Yikes.

Also also, I did everything Rad and Enid did other computers as a tween. "Clear browser history" was not a phrase my parents knew; oh, and did I ever exploit it. :3

Not edited, I will fall on that sword myself. I'll see if the typo traps catch anything tomorrow.


End file.
